DAVOS, Oct 2: Climate change may trigger “very large” changes in tourism habits within 50 years, as European travellers desert fraught hotspots and stay closer to home, an international conference heard Tuesday.

A summary report by the UN’s tourism, environmental, and weather agencies said that travel by north Europeans to some popular Mediterranean, Caribbean and North American areas could suffer, as well as to a lesser degree parts of Asia.

Tourists from temperate nations that currently dominate international travel would adapt and take advantage of “new climatic opportunities closer to home,” according to an advance summary of the report due to be released next month.

Although the overall worldwide growth in tourism was unlikely to suffer much, it added.

—AFP